


Gone When I Reed You Most

by forestofsecrets



Category: Uta no Prince-sama
Genre: Arguing, Comedy, Drama, Implied Relationships, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Musical Instruments, Typical Masa and Ren Behaviour, no instruments are involved in the implied sexual content, no one fucks a saxophone srry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:53:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24687946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forestofsecrets/pseuds/forestofsecrets
Summary: A regular STARISH practice gets derailed when Ren loses his reed.
Relationships: Hijirikawa Masato/Jinguuji Ren
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29





	Gone When I Reed You Most

**Author's Note:**

> This story is mainly me wanting to write about their instruments. For a series about music, it is surprising that it took me this long! I had a lot of fun with the title.
> 
> Tokidoki is THIS close to just going solo.
> 
> Made on 06/11/2020.

The room was filled not with conversation but the warm up routines of the various musicians. Though, the seven idols had been together long enough by now to recognize each other’s musical quirks.

For instance, Natsuki arrived late to the session but he was able to tell that Tokiya was ready to begin. The only idol without a set instrument, the singer couldn’t stay still while he continued to hum. Next to him, Otoya was seated with his guitar in his lap. The guitar was already tuned, leaving Otoya to flip through the sheet music in front of him.

Natsuki pulled a chair up beside the piano. They all formed a misshapen circle about the room, each taking their own space. Everyone knew by now that Ren tended to swing while he played so there was ample space around their saxophone player. Not that he needed it right now, the saxophone was propped up beside Ren as he sat in his chair. It was turned around so Ren was leaning forward on the backrest. From what Natsuki could see, he was focused on something in his mouth.

Not that he could spend too long observing the others. His own instrument was taken out of its case, which was set down by his feet and out of the way. The main priority now was tuning, ensuring that he would be able to play the notes properly. There was an auto tuner in the bag that he had brought, they all brought a number of items with them to practice, but Natsuki hadn’t used one of those in a long while. 

The odd note or two was played while his fingers worked the strings. Cecil played a scale to keep himself warmed up on his flute. The differences between their chosen instruments in the group meant that they had to be mindful of the balance in their music. Cecil, for instance, couldn’t have a vocal solo at the same time as a flute solo. That was a problem that Natsuki himself avoided, but it was prominent for another member of the group as well.

Being well used to tuning, Natsuki could let his eyes wander off his viola to glance up at Ren once more. It was clear that something had happened before he arrived. But it wasn’t exactly his fault that he was late either. There had been some baby bunnies and he just had to snap a photo or two or twenty. He had planned on sharing them but had seemingly walked into the middle of something.

It wasn’t just Ren either. Beside where Natsuki sat was Masato, seated at the piano bench. It was well known that when Ren was involved, then Masato was likely involved as well. Their pianist had his hands spread on the keys, silently playing some melody in his head. The tension was clear on his face as through his motions, not as fluid as he usually was. 

It made Natsuki shot Syo a look, trying to catch eyes across the room. Once contact was made, Natsuki tipped his head to the side in a quiet question. The only answer he got was Syo shaking his head a bit, just enough that the action was visible from a distance. That didn’t help Natsuki’s understanding of the situation in the least. But maybe some pictures of some baby bunnies would help diffuse the tension…

“Are you finally ready?” Masato spoke sharply and Natsuki, who had leaned down to root through his bag for his phone, nearly thought the words for him. But that tone and a look up quickly told Natsuki who he was really speaking to. “Well, Jinguji?” 

Baby bunnies forgotten for the moment; the room’s attention turned to Ren. His posture was terrible and the way he removed whatever it was in his mouth only solidified his attitude. Ren practically swore under his breath. “I told you already, it wasn’t like I lost it on purpose.” His wrist flicked and the thing he held in it was finally distinguishable to Natsuki’s eye. “And no, I’m not ready yet.” In a flash, the piece of wood was back in Ren’s mouth, effectively telling the group that he was done talking.

There was only one possible thing that could be. Ren must have forgotten his reed and was trying to get a new one ready. That was the only explanation that Natsuki could think of that fit the situation. For a third time now, he got reminded of the differences in their instruments. The woodwind types had to have a reed to cause vibration. As Natsuki played with the strings of his viola, he plucked one lightly. The light string shook, vibrating in the correct note. 

As Natsuki finished up with his tuning, there was a chance to grab a music stand and lay out his sheet music. He got multiple pages from his bag, fanning them all out on the stand. A pencil was placed on the stand and he tilted it back just enough for the pencil to stay put. It would be useful to make quick adjustments to how he should preform. Most of his sheet music was covered in scratches and little notes with a few doodles of Piyo-chan here and there. His phone remained in his bag for now, propped up against a corner of the piano where it would remain out of the way.

The others grew restless yet didn’t voice their complaints. Or perhaps they had and Natsuki just hadn’t heard them. Otoya was scribbling away at something on his music stand while Tokiya paced, trilling. Syo was rolling his shoulders, stretching out his arms. To Natsuki across the room, one shoulder seemed stiffer than the other. It made him stretch his own arms and take a deep breath. He didn’t have to sit properly yet so his back remained curved. They would never get anywhere with such a thick cloud of tension over them so he did what he could to lighten it.

His thought was maybe he could help. “What happened?” Immediately, Natsuki got multiple wide-eyed glares from all directions. When he looked over at Syo again, the violin player was making some sort of hand gesture that could only be described as threatening. 

“Let’s go over this again,” speaking with authority, Masato began. “Not only did Jinguji delay our practice session and waste our time—”

“It’s not like I meant to do it on purpose.” Ren tried to interject, rolling his eyes, but Masato wasn’t having it.

“—but he also lost a vital piece of his instrument.” Completely straight-faced, Masato’s stare was solely directed at the person he spoke to. Ren met him head on, reed still stuck out of his mouth in a move of defiance. “What does that tell you about his work ethic?” The pianist turned his head just enough for Natsuki to catch a bit of that unwavering focus. It was chilling.

But surely, Masato was speaking from a kind place. But persisting through this route seemed an impossible task at the moment. “Have you tried thinking about where you had it last?” Natsuki tried his luck with Ren, speaking softly to attempt to defuse the situation.

Ren shrugged. He removed the reed to address Natsuki properly, a luxury he didn’t give to Masato. “Tried that already. Last time was last time we practised, a few days ago. It’s been missing since.” The piece of wood went back in, signalling he was done answering the question. His arms hung over the edge of the chair as he rocked on it.

While Natsuki was no detective, the next logical question to ask would be: “What did you do after practice then?” Giving himself a moment to recall, Natsuki tried to think back. A few days ago… He remembered their practice session then. Ah, that had been where Syo exhausted his arm from playing. The shorter blond must be still sore. Ren’s path didn’t cross with Natsuki’s after that. From his memory, didn’t he leave with Masato?

When Ren’s eyes flashed over to the piano, Natsuki’s recollection felt justified. “Went to practice some more.” He didn’t remove the reed this time and such, his answer was messy. Ren’s tone turned indifferent and he avoided Natsuki’s inquiring gaze. It looked like this path was also a dead end. After a couple of hard sucks, Ren transferred the reed from his mouth to his hand. “Looks like we’re ready to go.” 

Masato readjusted his position at the piano while Ren readied his saxophone. “It’s about time. Honestly Jinguji,” the sound of shuffling papers at the piano gave a busy, well-to-do impression, “you’ve kept us all waiting long enough.” 

“Huh, funny.” It was a quip from Ren, tongue quicker than his brain. “You’ve never complained about the way I suck before. In fact, you usually claim that I go too fas—”

An unholy _twang_ interrupted Ren before he could go any further. It was the noise of a guitar string snapping and all heads went towards Otoya, whose face was close to the same shade as his hair.

“Aha, what? How did that…?” The redhead fumbled with his instrument and Natsuki wasn’t sure which one was wound tighter at the moment. “Let me, I just need,” Otoya scrambled to remove the broken string, fingers seemingly clumsy. He squirmed in his chair, Natsuki’s view was swiftly blocked by Tokiya, who happened to pause his pacing right in front of Otoya.

“Why don’t we start with a part that involves those of us currently ready?” Tokiya’s suggestion took the spotlight off the currently sputtering Otoya. The vocalist opted for a solo or duet, leaving Otoya and Ren a spare moment to prepare themselves. Natsuki changed the order of his sheet music right away, bringing the song Tokiya suggested to the front. They had talked about doing their group songs first but Natsuki was perfectly okay with shaking up the setlist. This piece in particular had little doodles of bunnies and Natsuki was reminded of the animals he saw this morning. While they had a spare moment, he may as well pull his phone out…

He wasn’t the only one that had to accommodate for such a change. “Give me a moment to locate the right accompaniment.” Masato had to do the same thing, only the sheet music he was searching for had to be in the bag he brought. His bag happened to be right up against Natsuki’s own, given that they were sitting next to each other. Natsuki was able to retrieve his phone without incident and was in the process of zipping his bag back up when Masato froze beside him.

“Did you find the, oh.” The rest of Natsuki’s question was lost in his throat as he coincidentally saw what was at the bottom of Masato’s bag.

Ren’s reed.

Natsuki didn’t know why or how it got there. What he did know what if they started up arguing again, they would likely never get any practice done. His eyes met with just as bewildered blues, neither of them sure of their next move. Had it got thrown into Masato’s bag by accident somehow? Though Natsuki wasn’t sure how the object could have gotten misplaced in the first place.

Meanwhile Tokiya was trying to urge them along. “Are you ready over there?” He adapted an impatient snap and Natsuki couldn’t really blame him. Unlike their instruments, Tokiya’s vocal cords could only hold up for a certain amount of time before he had to give them a break. Natsuki could play his viola until his arms ached and his instrument would still play, the same could not be said for Tokiya. 

The men looked at each other, still with heads ducked. They had to make a decision and if Natsuki knew Masato as well as he thought he did, he was sure which path the pianist would take. With a quick flick of his finger, Natsuki was already pulling the pictures up.

“Who wants to see some baby bunnies!”

**Author's Note:**

> My favourite part of this story is Syo's threatening hand gesture lol.
> 
> I can play a few instruments but I am best with the trumpet! Hyuga also plays the trumpet, which is pretty fun! Given that it's a brass instrument, I thought I would poke fun at the woodwind types. I specifically chose the trumpet to avoid sucking on a piece of wood but that just meant that I had to play the notes with my mouth and air pressure, aha~ 
> 
> Speaking of sucking, Masa and Ren's relationship is implied. As in, the reed got misplaced cause they were together doing _activities_. I originally was going to use Masa's pov to tell the story cause I thought it would be funnier but I also really wanted to use Natsuki for something? So I went with Natsuki. Had to work around the obvious issues but I think I managed it to a point where I am happy with and can move onto another story! We are slowly moving towards 100 posted stories lol that is exciting!


End file.
